Ecce Homo

A man of sorrows and with grief acquainted,
He bowed His beauteous head to the rude hands
Of Pilate's hireling bands;
And while beneath their cruel scourge He fainted,
Forgave them, yearning through His shameful smart
Even with a brother's heart.
And when upon their Roman cross they nailed Him,
With mocking hatred and scorn's bitter smile,
Hark! How He prayed, the while
Nature's extremest agony assailed Him-
"Father, Thy mercy unto these renew,
They know not what they do."
For the great precept of His Christianity
Was always, "Live in charity; yea, live
To love and to forgive,
That so My spirit may through all humanity
Pass ever downward with a widening birth,
Till peace possess the earth."